Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

My preference would be 16:10 screens, but those are rapidly disappearing too. All the screens seem to want to emulate looking through a mail slot.

[ChrisLX200]

Will Linux run normal software designed for Windows or does it demand its own programs to run it? I f Ave always fancied playing around with it but been put off by the prospect of having to replace all my software?

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

I've always liked the idea of running a linux machine but every time I've installed it I eventually wreck it trying to install stuff (usually drivers for some weird hardware), and then spent too many hours trying to recover it. Lack of knowledge on my part for sure, but linux is quite unforgiving to the newbie and you can be left clueless how to proceed. Dual-boot or a live USB version is not a practical solution (for me), and I don't have the space to dedicate to a separate PC.

If you're an experienced Windows user then simply replacing your OS with Linux and expecting to carry on where you left off is unlikely to lead to happiness. Personally I found it totally frustrating. The GUI interface is nice but don't be fooled by that because sooner or later it's going to break and then you're going to be sucked into command lines and detailed structure of how Linux works. There is no alternative to that learning process, your pretty GUI is unlikely to satisfy all your needs on its own.

However, I found a nice way of getting into it - a lowly RaspberryPi. I installed Ubuntu on it and it takes up very little space on my desk - even with its own dedicated monitor. It's cheap to buy, surprisingly powerful, not overly complex (by being burdened with perpherals), yet contains all the essential ingredients of a running system to learn on. My main Windows PC runs alongside providing access to tutorials and so on. The knowledge gained is transferrable to a more powerful computer.

[bd139]

Not off topic here. Linux, TEA and 4:3 screens no less. This is why I like 4:3 - two entire pages perfectly readable:



Also Linux because the screenshot tool uploads straight to imgur

[bitseeker]

However, I found a nice way of getting into it - a lowly RaspberryPi. I installed Ubuntu on it and it takes up very little space on my desk - even with its own dedicated monitor. It's cheap to buy, surprisingly powerful, not overly complex (by being burdened with perpherals), yet contains all the essential ingredients of a running system to learn on. My main Windows PC runs alongside providing access to tutorials and so on. The knowledge gained is transferrable to a more powerful computer.

Similarly, you can run Linux in a VM on the Windows PC so that there's no need to reboot to use one or the other. It also makes it easy to keep doing what you're used to in Windows (along with any electronics- or test-equipment-related software that requires Windows) while exploring Linux.

I have a Windows laptop set up this way with a couple Linux VMs; the Windows part is for MS Office, games, Keysight software, etc. On an old MacBook Pro I have VMs for a few flavors of Linux and a couple versions of Windows. Plenty of OSes to choose from.

[mnementh]

https://youtu.be/YRlPTbKHIPQ


mnem

[bitseeker]

"Every OS sucks"

Yeah, that's about the size of it. They just suck in different ways.

"Sucks and blows at the same time."

Kind of like flammable and inflammable — the same and different at the same time.

[capt bullshot]

+1 on 4:3 screens - my favourite setup is dual or triple 1600x1200 monitors

Any screen that I'd consider useful must have at least 1200 pixels in height ...

+1 on linux, haven't touched anything (windows) newer than win7 yet, and I'm really not keen on that

[Berni]

The thing with Win7 is that it takes some time to get it working correctly. If you'd opened Device Manager you'd have seen load of questions marks and yellow highlights IIRC. The trick here is to open the properties tab for each of and "disable" them all apart from 1. Do a reboot and give it a few minutes and check Device Manager again and normally the device has been installed correctly if the right driver exists on the PC. Then repeat for other problems and you'd expect to see most of them install perfectly except for the ones like graphic drivers because your device is newer so Win7 could not possibly have the drivers built in. It is normally as simple as that, too many devices to install at once confuses it, but even then if your patient with it and allow it some time, it will sort most out for you after a few reboots.

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

Well previously with Windows 7 all i had to do it get it on the internet and it would magically grab pretty much all the drivers from windows update. But here even getting to boot and get it on the internet was a whole afternoon of banging my head against the table.

Okay i understand there might be a few hiccups as it is a old OS. Im used to having to manually install network card drivers to get it online but that's about it. Historically there has always been a huge focus on compatibility in PCs. You can install DOS on a modern machine and have a USB keyboard work with it out of the box. You could also install Windows 7 on a old Pentium III machine and it would also work (Well it would run like shit but that's kinda obvious).

Yet suddenly not even USB ports work on this new hardware and Intel simply refuses to even let you install drivers on a OS that about half of all PCs in the world are still running. Its not like they are refusing to make drivers for Windows XP that is dead by now (Tho still clingled onto by quite a few)

[Cerebus]

Guys, if one wants a Linux/Windows/OS X thread it can be found in every other frickin' topic on here.

Please, pretty please, can we not make the TEA thread another one of those?

Please don't make me get the cluebat ... 

[Specmaster]

Guys, if one wants a Linux/Windows/OS X thread it can be found in every other frickin' topic on here.

Please, pretty please, can we not make the TEA thread another one of those?

Please don't make me get the cluebat ... 

I would have thought it was on topic as most decent TEA items have computer interfaces these days and a discussion Re best OS on which to implement them might be useful to other TEA members. Some members may only regularly check this topic/section?

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[Mr. Scram]

I would have thought it was on topic as most decent TEA items have computer interfaces these days and a discussion Re best OS on which to implement them might be useful to other TEA members. Some members may only regularly check this topic/section?

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

I tripped over three topics about exactly the same subject while typing this post. Nobody is able to miss them.

[bd139]

Back on TEA. At lunch I attempted to attach my new PA to my bitx transmit chain. Due to a poor termination problem, and the fact this is a hefty amp, it appears to have spiked some serious volts and blown out an attenuator module on the 465.

Amp kicks out ~140v peak to peak in 50 ohms. Unterminated over 1Kv! Oops. Surprised it didn't blow the FETs out.

I have some lying around so will swap them out later. Grr though.

[BravoV]

Guys, if one wants a Linux/Windows/OS X thread it can be found in every other frickin' topic on here.

Please, pretty please, can we not make the TEA thread another one of those?

Please don't make me get the cluebat ... 

Wait, I thought this thread is no longer "Test Equipment" related for quite sometimes ? 

[bd139]

It’s pub and garden shed talk now.

[mnementh]

Guys, if one wants a Linux/Windows/OS X thread it can be found in every other frickin' topic on here.

Please, pretty please, can we not make the TEA thread another one of those?

Please don't make me get the cluebat ... 

come on man... you're jumping the "OT Nazi" gun a LITTLE quick here. 

I can see if we filled multiple pages with back & forth over every nit-picking difference in HOW Every OS Sucks; but we're just having a casual conversation here about it, clearly in passing, and bemoaning the days when you only had to worry about the hardware itself and knowing a few well-documented protocols, and NOT worry about how OSes are now made so that hardware can't even be seen by your PC, Laptop, iWhatever or phone to be ABLE to talk to it...

I understand wanting to nip an OS flamewar in the bud; but jeez... in this case, the seed of the parent tree hasn't even been planted yet.


Cheers,


mnem
*Off... slightly*

[Mr. Scram]

come on man... you're jumping the "OT Nazi" gun a LITTLE quick here. 

I can see if we filled multiple pages with back & forth over every nit-picking difference in HOW Every OS Sucks; but we're just having a casual conversation here about it, clearly in passing, and bemoaning the days when you only had to worry about the hardware itself and knowing a few well-documented protocols, and NOT worry about how OSes are now made so that hardware can't even be seen by your PC, Laptop, iWhatever or phone to be ABLE to talk to it...

I understand wanting to nip an OS flamewar in the bud; but jeez... in this case, the seed of the parent tree hasn't even been planted yet.


Cheers,


mnem
*Off... slightly*

The problem is that it's not a seed that has been planted, but a tree that has grown through various threads and now creeps into this one. Enough is enough, we don't need the same discussion in 14 threads.

[Specmaster]

come on man... you're jumping the "OT Nazi" gun a LITTLE quick here. 

I can see if we filled multiple pages with back & forth over every nit-picking difference in HOW Every OS Sucks; but we're just having a casual conversation here about it, clearly in passing, and bemoaning the days when you only had to worry about the hardware itself and knowing a few well-documented protocols, and NOT worry about how OSes are now made so that hardware can't even be seen by your PC, Laptop, iWhatever or phone to be ABLE to talk to it...

I understand wanting to nip an OS flamewar in the bud; but jeez... in this case, the seed of the parent tree hasn't even been planted yet.


Cheers,


mnem
*Off... slightly*

The problem is that it's not a seed that has been planted, but a tree that has grown through various threads and now creeps into this one. Enough is enough, we don't need the same discussion in 14 threads.

I think this has started from  100% TEA related discussion in connection with all things GPIB as previously related and having to write drivers to bring various pieces of kit to work as a connected system, so it is slightly more related then may have been thought no?

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[Cerebus]

Guys, if one wants a Linux/Windows/OS X thread it can be found in every other frickin' topic on here.

Please, pretty please, can we not make the TEA thread another one of those?

Please don't make me get the cluebat ... 

come on man... you're jumping the "OT Nazi" gun a LITTLE quick here. 

We've had three pages that are at least 50% general computer stuff and it's started to get onto choice of operating system. I don't think it's jumping the gun to ask nicely, really nicely, to draw it to a close. "Off topic" is pretty loose here, and I'm perfectly happy with that, but there's a difference between a couple of pages of shed talk on the delights of post-pub-nosh from around the world and getting into the perennial, persistent, perpetual, pernicious, peripatetic wibble that is the Internet discussing OS choice.

[bd139]

We’ve stopped now. It’s turned into a flame war 

Just replaced attenuator module in my tek. I smoked the 10x module. Oops. Good job I’ve got a few around.

[BillB]

...but there's a difference between a couple of pages of shed talk on the delights of post-pub-nosh from around the world and getting into the perennial, persistent, perpetual, pernicious, peripatetic wibble that is the Internet discussing OS choice.

I have no comment on the topic at hand, but just had to applaud the alliteration; don't see that very often anymore.

[Specmaster]

Guys, if one wants a Linux/Windows/OS X thread it can be found in every other frickin' topic on here.

Please, pretty please, can we not make the TEA thread another one of those?

Please don't make me get the cluebat ... 

come on man... you're jumping the "OT Nazi" gun a LITTLE quick here. 

We've had three pages that are at least 50% general computer stuff and it's started to get onto choice of operating system. I don't think it's jumping the gun to ask nicely, really nicely, to draw it to a close. "Off topic" is pretty loose here, and I'm perfectly happy with that, but there's a difference between a couple of pages of shed talk on the delights of post-pub-nosh from around the world and getting into the perennial, persistent, perpetual, pernicious, peripatetic wibble that is the Internet discussing OS choice.

Ooh that's a load of words all starting with P [emoji50]

From mobile device so predictive text might have struck again [emoji83]

[Cerebus]

...but there's a difference between a couple of pages of shed talk on the delights of post-pub-nosh from around the world and getting into the perennial, persistent, perpetual, pernicious, peripatetic wibble that is the Internet discussing OS choice.

I have no comment on the topic at hand, but just had to applaud the alliteration; don't see that very often anymore.

I had an English teacher, John "Rusty" Reynolds, who was particularly fond of alliterations and the taste for them rubbed off on me; as did the chalk dust from the board eraser oft thrown at Calvin "Stop squeaking Davidson" Davidson as it sailed past me. One of the few school teachers who I remember fondly and I would surely buy him a pint if I ran into him.

[Specmaster]

Hmm, I had a similar teacher for maths who was a dead shot with a blackboard eraser and also another for PE was not frightened to take his size 14 trainers and bend the whole class over and use them if required. I'd gladly buy either one of them a drink but I doubt they are still alive today.

[Specmaster]

Literally about 5 minutes after it was listed this afternoon. This one has trim and looks in good condition. Cal looks like it has been tampered with. However last cal was by Keysight in 2017 so fingers crossed.

Did you get your from this seller? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-3478A-Bench-Digital-Multi-Meter-WORKING-including-VAT/132594648106?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
I'm asking because by some strange coincidence the one I got also has a Keysight Cal sticker on it that expired in Jun 2017 and is also listed as in working order. If this is the same seller, I wonder if he used a generic photo for the listed and ones we get are anything like the photo?

[Cerebus]

I think this gives the game away: